in a diabetes exchange diet 1500 calories should be maintained

If you are a diabetic then eating a healthy diet can keep your blood sugar levels within permissible limits to a certain extent. If you are obese and need to slim down or simply need to maintain your petite frame then a 1500 calorie diabetic diet is ideal for you. You can also exchange foods between same groups in your diet. But care should be taken that in a diabetes exchange diet 1500 calories should be maintained at all costs for the diet to be effective.

The food that you can eat can be split into six categories namely vegetables, meat and meat substitutes, milk and milk products, fruits, bread and other grains and lastly fats. Most of the items in these groups have similar levels of carbohydrates, fats and proteins although they need to be carefully checked and the servings measured before you exchange them. While a normal 1500 calorie american diet requires to be made up of 50% carbohydrates, 30% fats and 20% proteins, you can ask your dietician or doctor to customize your diet based on your age, sex, physical activity throughout the day and your diabetic condition.

Once you have the basics in place then you can chart out your diet in detail. You can get hold of a sample diet even over the internet and try it out or customize it to your needs. You can also choose from a select list of free foods that contain less than 20 calories and 5 carbohydrate counts per serving. These foods can be had without counting the calories in your daily total, although it would be wise to split up the servings throughout the day instead of gulping such foods in one go. You can study the food exchange lists and interchange the foods that you do not like with those that you like. For example, you can safely exchange around ¾ cup of a cereal with a slice of bread since their carbohydrate values would still remain the same, or you could exchange 1 cup of melon with slightly less than ½ a cup of fruit juice.

These same exchanges can also be done in your vegetable and meat categories. Meats should be grilled instead of fried and low fat or skimmed milk should be chosen over full fat milk. While exchanging foods, ensure that you also have an eye on the calorie count since it should not exceed 1500 calories at the end of the day. This food exchange plan will enable you to design a diverse menu everyday so that you do not get bored with eating the same foods everyday. It makes your diet more flexible and hence increases your chances of sticking to it. However, for ladies that are in a state of pregnacy, the advice of their dietician is of prime importance. Also, since a 1500calorie diet contains 50% carbohydrates that quickly get converted into sugar after entering your body, it is also important that you monitor your blood sugar levels before and after every meal.

Hence, food exchange lists offer you a tasty choice of shifting between similar value foods within the same food category. It can keep the interest alive in the diet and allow you to slip past foods that you do not enjoy. The only hitch is that in a diabetes exchange diet 1500 calories should be maintained so that you do not end up gaining or losing vital calories.

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